Bulbous bows on ships have been known for 70 years or more. These bow configurations were, and are being used, in order to decrease the resistance of the water to the travel of the ship. Decreasing the resistance of the water to the ship's travel reduces the energy required to propel the ship bring about a number of desired results. For one thing, the amount of fuel required for a given velocity or a given distance of travel is decreased. Secondly, the size and therefore the cost of the ship's propulsion equipment can be reduced to attain a given velocity. Alternatively, with the reduced resistance obtained as a result of a bulbous bow a ship with a given propulsion equipment can attain greater velocities.
Although such bulbous bows have been used for quite a period of time, the particular shape or configuration of the bulbous bow suggested by prior users and disclosures thereof have been many and varied. The complexity of the physical effects which dictate the optimum bulb configuration has led the field to heavily rely on empirical results. Typical prior art bulb configurations include the faired bulb of Weicker (U.S. Pat. No. 3,455,262); the knuckled bulb of Csupor (U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,194); the blunt bulb of Taniguchi (U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,369); a relatively pointed bulb of Gray (U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,243); the spherical bulbs of Inui (U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,299) and Laskey (U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,822); the "flattened" bulb of German (U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,590) and the cylindrical bulb of Tomiyama (U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,352). In addition to the foregoing, Eckert (U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,997) discloses a bulb which has a part spherical and part roughly conical portions.